The Chess Master
by notyourleo
Summary: Demigods from Camp Half-Blood have gone missing. In order to save them, Percy Jackson must play a twisted game against the Titan lord, Kronos. The lives of the missing are placed on the line, and sacrifices must be made to proceed. Can Percy save all his friends yet win the fight?


_A/N: So a couple of months ago my beta-reader reminded me of a four year old PJO idea that's sitting in my computer unfinished and since then I realized it's still a great idea I decided to torture myself and revive it. I still have its notes and everything so I'm not completely lost. It's supposed to have nine chapters, tried to see if I could fit all the story into one, but I'm trimming it down to three chapters since it's too long to be a one-shot._

 _This isn't revised by my beta-reader, I think I'm going to give her some rest for now. There's bound to have plenty of mistakes below that my inner editor didn't spot, so sorry about that!_

* * *

PERCY JACKSON AND THE CHESS MASTER

* * *

 **I.**

This was how the first dream started: I was running across an endless room, with one thing in my mind; out there in the darkness I had to meet someone. I had to fight them. It continued on for a couple of days. The dreams consisted of me running and running, footsteps echoing against black and white marble tiles, armed with a purpose but without a destination. The sounds I made were deafening.

Gradually, I learned the reason why I had to keep moving. I was being chased by moving, white chess pieces. Crazy, I know. Probably funny in different circumstances. But when I came across them in my dreams, it would always scare the shit out of me. They'd surround me, crush me against each other, and I'd barely escape only to be to be found under their feet.

In the following nights, black pieces started to appear, and they defended me, saved me numerous times from the evil white knights. My breath and my steps weren't the only things that made noise anymore. I couldn't see anything beyond twenty feet, but I heard stone crumbling, blood spilling on the ground, all audible to my ears, like knives cutting through the air and it hurt. There was a way to stop all of this, and that was to find the enemy, the one who started all of this. As the dreams get darker and more violent, I was getting closer to them.

 _One week_ , said the voice in my dreams. _One week, Percy Jackson. That is all it takes._

* * *

The morning was windy. Gray clouds covered the sky, although sunshine past through the gaps between and splashed over the camp grounds. Weird weather for a summer day, but everyone in Camp Half-Blood welcomed it. I took Blackjack out from the stables so we could fly around. The breeze was nice. I needed to get my mind off the dreams. I wanted to escape them even for a moment. These weren't my usual prophetic or symbolic dreams. It was occurring too many times for me to be comfortable with. They changed, little by little, and they became too terrifying for me to handle, to take in. I knew I have to face them in the future, I just didn't want to be in that zone right now.

Thunder rolled above us. I shouldn't be flying. Regardless of what I had done for the gods, Zeus could easily strike me down. _Ahh, Poseidon, I accidentally shot your only living demigod son. Sorry, my bad._ Maybe if I die right now I could escape all my responsibilities, the Great Prophecy. But I didn't want that to happen. There was no one else who was going to do this but me. I had accepted that a long time ago.

Below me, Annabeth was calling for my attention by waving her arms and shouting my name. I urged Blackjack to go down and we swooped around in circles, gaining momentum so we could have a gentle landing. We stopped a few feet away from her. My pegasus retracted his wings and I dismounted. From the pockets of my coat, I took out some sugar cubes and fed them to him.

Annabeth approached us. She hid her arms inside her jacket. She asked me, "Are you okay?"

I nodded. She was the only one who knew about my dreams. She knew I was bothered about them. But she wasn't looking so good, either. The color was drained from her face. She looked defeated.

I placed my hands on her arms. "Are _you_ okay?"

She faintly smiled and touched the back of my hand. Her fingers were cold. "I'll be alright. Chiron's calling for all cabin counselors for a meeting in the Big House. We've...we've got some news for everyone."

"Okay," I simply said. I led Blackjack to the pegasi stables and gave him the last of the sugar cubes I had with me. Annabeth brushed his mane quietly. Her gaze was far away from where she stood.

When I got out of the stable, she wasn't moving from her spot. She stared down at her feet. I wanted to know what was bothering her, but I didn't know if it was the right time to ask. Even though we were close at that time, she was not exactly an open book, even to me.

"Annabeth," I called her. She looked up to me. "Come on. I don't want you to catch a cold."

Her smile was a bit wider than before. "Don't worry, Percy. I'll catch up. You go on ahead. Okay? I'm fine."

I lingered for a moment before heading off, leaving her by herself. At the porch of the Big House the cabin counselors leaned on the wooden banisters looking up to the gray weather. Their faces reflected Annabeth's expression from just a while ago. They already knew the news I could tell, and I was probably the only one left who didn't know. Mr. D and a couple of satyrs gathered around the table playing cards. It was nice to see a tabletop game that wasn't chess. But if my dreams morphed from chess to cards, I was really going to strangle someone.

"Percy," Travis Stoll said to me. "Have you heard?"

"Sorry, I haven't heard anything," I said. What's going on?"

Just as he was about to explain, Chiron opened the door to the Big House. He sat on his wheelchair, with a blanket hiding his legs. He beckoned us inside, leaving Mr. D with his game. I looked back, and saw Annabeth heading towards this way. I lagged behind and waited for her. We smiled to each other before joining the others around the ping pong table.

Chiron pushed himself to the head of the table. He pressed two fingers at the side of his head and sighed deeply. "It has come to everyone's attention," he started. "That two of our campers have gone missing. Clarisse La Rue of the Ares cabin, and Charles Beckendorf of the Hephaestus cabin."

Everyone sat quietly. I was the only one with some form of reaction. "Where do you think they are?"

"That's the thing we're trying to figure out," Travis said to me. "Everyone has searched Camp Half Blood from top to bottom, and they've spreaded out again to see if they haven't miss them, if they're still here."

"We've checked everywhere and asked everyone close to them if they have any clue to where they are," Michael Yew said. "There were no hints or notes that they were going out somewhere. They're already gone from their beds before everyone else woke up. Do you think they've gone to a quest by their own, Chiron?"

"Unlikely. But I'd like to keep that possibility aside." Chiron gave me a side glance. "I don't think there's anything significant to commence a quest on their own. At least, anything that might catch our attention, if it's related to a certain group of people and deities." He was quiet for a minute. "I want for us to look beyond Camp Half-Blood. See if they left any traces as to where they have gone, if there is any."

"If we're going to find them outside, please let me go," Silena Beauregard said, standing up on her seat. I didn't notice that she was in the room until she spoke. I mean, I knew she was there, always have whenever a meeting was held. Her voice was quivering, but I also felt strength resonating from her. It just struck to me that she was close with both Beckendorf and Clarisse, so I understood why she was affected. "If there's a quest to find them, please let me lead it."

She and Chiron stared at each other for a moment, before the latter sighed. "Please give me a day to think about it. In the meantime, we all need to be cautious. All of you, never be by yourself. Tell the rest to report any unusual activities to you or to me."

After discussing about camp securities we were dismissed, but Silena and Annabeth stayed behind.

* * *

Tyson spoke to me in a quiet voice. Not a whisper, but it was the quietest I had heard from him ever. "It's going to be alright."

I opened my eyes to the view of the empty volleyball courts, the sunset, and a concerned Cyclops holding a basket of muffins.

"What's wrong, buddy?" I asked. I scooted on the bench to give him some butt space. He sat besides me and offered me the contents of the basket. I picked out a muffin and examined it, try to figure out what kind it was, what flavor it was. "Why would you say that?"

"You're worried," he said to me. "Whatever problem you're thinking, it's going to be alright."

I smiled widely and lightly punched his arm. "Thanks for checking up on me." I munched on the muffin. Blueberry. "This is really good. You made this?"

He nodded enthusiastically, told me how he wanted to take a break from camp activities and the kind girls over at the Demeter cabin invited him for baking. He went about how his day went. We watched the sunset before going to dinner together.

I felt the tension floating in the dining pavilion. Everyone made it seemed like everything was okay. Sure, there was the war against the Titan Lord Kronos looming towards us like dark clouds in the sky; that was never out of the discussion. But the whole camp spoke to each other, whispering about Clarisse and Beckendorf. My ears popped open and caught every conversation that involved those two names. It wasn't the first time that I wasn't the center of everyone's attention. I hated to say this, but I felt like the burden on my shoulders were lighter, even for a minute.

Grover was looking at me across the pavilion. He sat with Chiron and the other satyrs in their own tables. I looked back at him and gave him a reassuring smile. He smiled back, but he didn't look convinced that I was doing okay.

Me and my brother went back to our cabin and got ourselves ready for bed. I laid down, staring at the ceiling, restless for hours. Tired, but wide awake.

 _Grover,_ I called out to him with the empathy link we have. _You awake? You got a minute?_

 _I'm here, buddy._ I heard him. _What's the matter?_

 _I need to get something out of my chest._ Grover and I never really used the empathy link for anything other than checking each other if one of us was still alive. If there was something I wanted to talk about with him, I wanted to do it personally, face-to-face. Although, something about the way I was reaching to him right now, lying down in bed and talking to him like I had a phone in my hand, felt more personal. _You might be in for a long night if you're willing to listen to me._

 _It sounds serious though. What do you want to talk about?_

 _My dreams._ Tyson was snoring at the bed next to me. Sometimes I wanted to tell him about everything in the world that worried me to death, including him and myself. But sometimes I just wanted him to know nothing, let the world be good despite all the crap he went through when he was living in the streets, before we ended up in the same school where I first met him. But I didn't want just Annabeth to carry the burden of knowing the dreams that kept coming to me every night, something that would both make us lose sleep over. Maybe telling those dreams to my best friend, be confused together trying to make sense of them, would lighten that burden, just for a bit.

* * *

My brother's bed was made when I woke up early in the morning. I barely had enough sleep, but my dreams were long and vivid it felt like eternity. I got ready and went through the day's camp activities; attending classes if there were any scheduled for me or go to the more extracurricular ones like lava-rock climbing or sword fighting in the arena, which I liked to do.

I didn't see my brother anywhere all this time. With his size, I would spot him even from a distance. The same with Annabeth since I left her in the Big House, until later afternoon where I found her at the same place. She sat on a bench outside the porch, looking over the camp. Her arms were crossed against her chest, her face a mix of worry and frustration. She saw me climbing up and didn't take her eyes on me when I leaned on the wooden banister. "I haven't seen you around since yesterday," I said to her. "What's going on?"

The door to the Big House opened and a pale Silena came out, followed by Chiron. Travis Stoll pushed the centaur's wheelchair while Connor closed the door behind him.

Annabeth stood up from her seat. She looked at me before turning back to them. "So, you're going?"

"Tomorrow," Silena said. "We're going on a quest tomorrow."

I asked, "Did you get a prophecy from the Oracle of Delphi?"

Silena nodded to me. "I did," she whispered.

"And?"

She smiled at me. It was so convincing, but it was too forced to win me over. "I think we'll be okay."

She hugged Annabeth. "Thanks for helping us, Annabeth." She let go and placed a hand on each of the Stoll brother's shoulders. "We can do this. We're gonna find Charlie and Clarisse. Right, boys?"

They nodded enthusiastically. They said goodnight to Chiron, climbed down of the porch, headed towards the pavilion, Silena's arms around the boys' shoulders, speaking indistinctly to each other.

I walked with Annabeth for dinner. My brother Tyson wasn't in the pavilion. I ate alone at the table, worrying where he could have gone all this time. His bed was made back in our cabin. That meant something, right? Maybe he wandered in the forest and got lost. Maybe he went to Poseidon's kingdom. He was supposed to stay here for the rest of the summer until he was summoned back by our father. Knowing Tyson though, he wouldn't do that unless he was really needed down there. He would at least say goodbye.

I approached the other campers and asked them if they had seen my brother anywhere, if they ever catch him go to the forest or the beach. They had only seen me get out of my cabin, but not Tyson.

At the table were the satyrs sat, Grover was nowhere to be found. I reached out to him with our empathy link, but something was keeping me from connecting with him.

 _Where are they?_

I laid down on top of my sheets, my eyes watching the door to our cabin, waiting for it to be opened and see Tyson coming inside, making himself at home, ready to tell me about his day, where he had gone all this time and what he had done while he was away. The more time passed, the more my heart grew heavy. It ached, thinking that something had happened to him. My only clue was his bed. It meant he got up voluntarily. But to go where?

Grover was unresponsive. I concentrated hard enough to get through the barrier that kept stopping me from connecting to him but the only thing that I get was static. White noise. He was alive, I could feel it, but I didn't know where he was, how he was doing, _why_ he couldn't get through me.

I grabbed a jacket and went out to the night. I crossed the camp and found my way through the Big House. My knuckled rapped too hard against the door, it hurt. The wind was stronger than yesterday, it was almost howling.

Chiron was in his pajamas and night cap, but he didn't look like he was disturb in his sleep. "What's wrong, my dear boy?"

I was rubbing my shoulders, trying to warm myself. "It's Tyson, sir." My teeth were chattering. It was awfully cold even for a summer evening. "He hasn't come back to our cabin, and I haven't seen him since I woke up this morning. Did he say anything about leaving camp?"

His expression didn't bring any good news. "I'm afraid not, Percy."

"And Grover, I—I can't reach him. Did you see him, too? Anywhere?"

"Percy..."

"Tyson!" I turned my heels and started shouting to the wind. "Grover!" I didn't know what got to me. Worry turned to fear. The cold weather was clouding the way I think, taking my concentration away. Exhaustion was setting in. I wandered far from the Big House, calling out their names. Chiron got up on his wheelchair and grabbed my jacket just as I was one step to falling into the canoe lake.

* * *

At Half-Blood Hill, Annabeth and I saw Silena's quest party off.

The Stoll brothers each carried a huge backpack, as if they were out to go camping or rock climbing. No doubt they were armed to the teeth for whatever what was coming their way, but I hoped their backs wouldn't slow them down.

Silena was carrying light, with only a sword fastened on her belt, and a fashionable jacket where she seemed to conjure anything she needed from the inside pockets. There was something about her presence, something that made us bring our attention to her. It wasn't because she was related to Clarisse and Beckendorf that made us feel like she was the most important person in the party, no. Invigorated, revitalized. Determined. Those were the words I would describe Silena Beauregard ever since she stood and spoke up in the counselor meeting two days ago. We looked because she made us look at her. You couldn't miss her.

"Go find them, Silena," I said. "Bring them back."

She nodded to me and gave me a quick hug. "I will. Thank you, Percy. We'll find Tyson and Grover, too, okay?"

Her words were soothing like waves gently brushing the sand of the beach. "Okay."

* * *

In my dream, someone confronted me. He was eight feet tall but hunched. He wore white robes, his face stared down to the checkered tiled floor, shadowed by the light that poured down above us. He had a rusted scabbard on his side. I watched for a while, not moving from my spot, not daring to approach him.

He looked up to me, and I let out a scream. He had no eyes, mouth, and nose. Instead his face were fresh wounds carved into a word: PAWN.

He drew his rusting sword and charged. I backed away and summoned Riptide in my hand. I raised the weapon above me as he brought down his sword to my head. The impact of the blades made me buckle. My knees shook, forcing themselves to support my weight and the strength of the pawn. I parried away the enemy's sword before my body betrayed me. He was ready to attack once more when I felt movement behind me.

Before I turned to see who it was, they dashed to the pawn and drew their sword. I didn't see what happened—they were too fast for me—but the next thing I knew the pawn was on the ground, crumbled into stone at the impact of his fall.

I looked up to my savior. He rode a dark horse and wore a black suit of armor, like it was made of obsidian. Something was written across his breastplate. KNIGHT.

His voice echoed. _"My lord, you must leave this area! Run now! Protect yourself!"_

I was relieved and scared. More white pawns were emerging from the darkness, surrounding us. "I can't leave you here!" I shouted to the knight, gripping my sword tighter. I knew him, but at the same time I didn't know who he was. It was hard to tell with the shadows created by his dark helmet.

 _"Take him,"_ he said to someone behind me. _"Take him somewhere safe."_

I felt gentle hands on my back. She was a girl in black robes, a veil covering her face. Looking at her, all of a sudden all my worries and my fears melted away. The strength that I had lost after defending myself against the pawn flowed in my veins again. I wanted to protect her, but my gut told me that she was stronger than I imagined.

 _"Let's go,"_ she said softly, taking my hand. We ran away from the scene. I looked back; the knight's sword was raised up in the air as the pawns closed on him.

The sounds of clashing swords, stone crumbling, and dying yells rang around me. The ghosts of the fighters danced in the shadows. We once passed a fallen warrior turned into chunks of rocks. My mind kept spinning, trying to absorb the things that were happening around me all at once. My brain was going to explode at any moment.

 _"We're almost there,"_ the girl said to me. _"Just hold on."_

I knew right away where I was being taken to. It was a not safe place, like what the knight wanted. She was taking me to the enemy. It was time to end this fight, end the nightmares that haunted me and everyone in this room.

We stopped abruptly. She starred at the darkness in front of us.

I asked her, "What's wrong?"

She pushed me back harshly. I let go of her hand and collapsed on the ground. My strength left me, drained from my body when I released my grip from her.

 _"We were fooled,"_ she said through gritted teeth. _"This is a trap."_

I didn't see what she was seeing, but I smelled blood in close proximity. I didn't have to look too long to find the source of it when the answer was right in front of me. A giant sword went through the girl's body, her black dress stained. Someone hastily took it out of her, and I quickly ran to her aid, dropping my weapon. The veil was away from her face, and...well, I didn't know what to say. I was expecting to see the same blank slate with horrible scars, like the rest of the warriors here. But she was...indescribable.

She didn't turn into stone; she lay on my arms, cold as ice, staring above us. QUEEN was written on her neck.

Cold laughter resonated everywhere. The kind of laugh that always made my blood freeze, made goosebumps on my skin. But it wasn't Kronos laughter. This was different.

 _"What now? I have taken out your queen! Now you are useless and weak!"_

"Bastards!" I shouted, staring at two figures towering me. They donned white majestic robes, like royals. Their faces were shadowed by their crowns, but I didn't care what they looked like. I knew who they were.

One of them—the king—looked down at me and pointed their gigantic sword to my face. The blade was dripping blood. _"Checkmate,"_ he said, while lifting his sword up high, ready to strike. The queen behind him laughed an ugly laugh. I felt too weak to defend myself. I clamped my eyes shut and braced myself for the worst, clutching the girl in my arms. Why was I giving up early? Everyone was depending on me. Everyone wanted me safe. I had to fight.

I opened my eyes and picked up Riptide from the ground. At the same time the king brought down his sword to me, I swiftly moved and thrust my own weapon to his chest.

The sensation of falling hit me when I woke up in bed. A lingering image of the Liberty Statue found its way to the tail of the dream and stayed with me until I got up.

* * *

The next day after Silena and the Stoll brothers left Camp Half-Blood, _five_ people had gone missing, four of them cabin counselors, temporary or otherwise. The campers reported that their beds were made, they left no note or trace of their leave. No unusual behavior from the day before.

There were barely any counselors in the meeting held in the rec room, but it was instead full of distressed campers reporting to Chiron. "What do we do now?" "Do we look for them?" They wanted answers, they wanted something to do. They were lost as we were.

Chiron advised them to assign a temporary counselor for each leaderless cabin and showed them out of the room. He slumped into his wheelchair when everyone filed out except for the remaining counselors and placed his hands to his face. Mr. D sat besides him, inspecting a glass of Cola in his hand. It looked like he wasn't paying attention to the meeting, but I knew why he was here. His son, Pollux, was one of the missing.

"Should we go find them, Chiron?" Katie Gardner—one of the remaining counselors—said quietly. "Should we send them to find the missing?"

"No," Chiron said firmly. "No one is leaving the camp from this day on. We have already sent a party for the missing, and we haven't heard from them yet. Send word to everyone and make sure they all hear this. We must guard the borders twenty-four seven, if it comes to this."

"Keeping them all in one place might not be the best course of action, my friend," Mr. D said. "You'd be putting them in a position where they could be collected easily. _If_ the missing were taken unwillingly in the first place."

"But what are our other options, Mr. D?" Annabeth said, placing her hands on the ping-pong table. "They're picking on us. What else can we do? We don't know who we are up against. Who's the enemy? Kronos and his army? And if it's them, how are they doing this?"

"They've cornered us," I said. "We're in the losing side."

Everyone turned slowly to stare at me, their faces unreadable. I looked back at them, hopeless and desperate for answers, and I searched for them in their eyes.

* * *

No one went missing the day after that. Chiron's orders of no one leaving the camp probably stopped potential people to go out. But we would be naive to think that it was over already. While we feared future kidnappings among our numbers, we focused our concerns to the missing campers. If they were taken somewhere, how did the outsiders sneak into Camp Half-Blood? If they left on their own accord, the only question would be, _"Why?"_

We waited for any contact from Silena and the Stoll brothers if they got any leads. My gut said that she wouldn't be checking up on us any time now.

I finally told Chiron my reoccurring dreams. I knew it had something to do with the disappearance, but I left out the Liberty Statue detail that was attached at the end of my dreams; I still didn't understand what that meant yet even though it was something I'd understand much better than chess. He didn't react until I finished my story.

"You can't win, Percy, but you have to keep fighting," was his words of comfort.

* * *

I wanted to leave camp and find my friends. The dreams were scaring me every night, and I lost hours of sleep. They were getting worse and I wanted it to stop entirely. If only I could just... _open_ my head, reach out to the chess pieces stuck in my brain, throw them in the ground, and stomp them repeatedly, I would that right now. No words could describe what I was feeling at that moment. Tired, lonely, useless. Weak. But these words just didn't sum up.

The sound of waves from a distance were inviting to my ears. A walk seemed like a good idea to me. I found myself in Long Island Sound, ankle-deep in cool water. The smell of the sea, the overhead seagulls, the sand below my feet, it all calmed me down.

Halfway through the beach was Annabeth sitting on the sand, staring at the sea in awe. I got out of the water to join her. She didn't even glance at me when I got to her side. "Hey," I said. "You look horrible."

She did look horrible. I was afraid she'd faint any moment and die on the spot. This wasn't like her. "Percy," she muttered. "Percy, sit with me."

I got my butt on the sand. We watched the sea together for a while, shoulder-to-shoulder to each other. "What's bothering you, Annabeth?"

"What's bothering me?" she said, her voice quivering. "What's bothering me, Percy, was that I had a dream, and I told Chiron all about it." Her eyes were turning misty.

"What's the dream about?" I whispered. "Do you know what it meant?"

"I...I don't know. It's...I-I can't, Percy." She started sobbing. "I'm sorry. It's too horrible."

"It's okay. I won't pressure you to tell me."

"I don't know what to do. This isn't like me." She broke her gaze from the sea to me. "Promise me you'll be okay. _Promise_ me."

"I..." I swallowed. I wanted to know what prompted Annabeth to say those words to me. But if there was anything, _anything_ at all the could break her into this, I couldn't just let it slide. "I will. I promise. You stay safe, too."

The following day, six days after the first disappearance, Annabeth Chase went missing.

* * *

"Chiron!" I said loudly before I changed my mind. "Let me go on a quest!"

The strong winds were too much for us to handle that Campfire Sing-Along that night was canceled. There really was no need for me to shout, because Chiron was right in front of me on the porch of the Big House, but I was trying to hear myself over the fear in my mind, over my rapidly beating heart that drummed my ears. Also, over the howling winds around us.

"I want to get a prophecy," I continued, more quietly. I didn't _want_ a prophecy because those things were full of bad news, barely good news. But I couldn't go on a quest without knowing what was going to happen on the way.

Chiron sighed and stared down at me. He didn't speak but he shook his head.

" _Please_ , Chiron. Let me go," I begged him.

"I'm afraid we can't let you do that just yet, boy." Mr. D was leaning on the doorway of the Big House. "This...whole disappearance thing, might be a trap to lure you out of here, just like the rest."

"I don't care," I sneered at him. My anger was reaching its boiling point. "I can't just leave them out there. We have to do something. If it's me they really want, if it's that bad, then you have to let me go and find them. Chiron, please."

He shook his head again, grim-faced. I gritted my teeth. _"Why?"_

"It's what Mr. D suggested. This might be a trap for you. The course of action we can do right now is to wait until they come back."

"They? You mean my friends? But what if they _need_ help, Chiron? Will sitting around really accomplished _anything_?"

"Sometimes it _does_ ," Chiron barked. "I know how much you loathe waiting, so do I. But sometimes a little bit of patience will get us farther than you can imagine. Have you ever thought what the other demigods here—your brothers and sisters in arms—do when you are out there on your quests? They _wait_. Half-bloods cannot sit still, so to cope they prepare themselves if the need for action comes. They wait for _you_. Your friends aren't nobodies. They are strong-willed, trained, and they can think for themselves. Whatever dire situation they are in right now, I'm sure they will get out of it, just like you did before in the trials you've overcome. Have some _faith_ , Percy Jackson."

I bit my tongue and looked down at my feet. Mr. D crossed his arms and simply watched us.

Chiron asked, more calmer, "Where do you think are, Percy?"

"In the Liberty Statue," I said right away. "That's where they are."

He simply nodded. "Then we'll watch out for their return. We can only pray to the gods for their safety and get ready for whatever that is coming."

I turned back from him and Mr. D and walked down to the pathway of the cabins. "Percy," Chiron called out before I got too far. I stopped and turned to look back. "I made a promise with Annabeth and I intend to keep it. Do you know what it is?"

I nodded and made my way to my cabin. I didn't like waiting. I didn't like how no one was doing anything at all.

* * *

I didn't dare sleep. Someone might kidnap me and bring me to the place where Annabeth and the others were. That seemed like a good idea at first. Wait for the kidnappers to come to my door, then let them make my bed as they carried me in a rucksack to nowhere.

I threw the sheets off myself and got dressed. I made sure Riptide was with me and headed out of Cabin Three. To my shock, a sandstorm raged through the entire camp. How could Chiron and Mr. D let this kind of weather in? How could this weather _be_? The option to fly towards my destination was crossed off; I didn't want to take Blackjack out in this weather. I covered my eyes and made my way to the beach. I had no choice but take the sea route. It was easier because I was in familiar territory, but more dangerous.

But then I couldn't _swim_ all the way there. I'd have no problem breathing underwater, that was for sure. But I was a small, puny person. When I arrived at the beach, sandstorm didn't affect the area, but heavy rain poured down instead. In a distance, a fierce storm was brewing.

I was about to call my ride when I heard someone behind me speak. "Going somewhere, boy?"

Nothing actually stopped me from moving; the ground didn't sprout any vines or turn into quicksand, but the calm yet, but my blood froze when I heard Mr. D's voice over the patter of the rain. His aloha shirt and khaki pants were drenched, but his gaze unwavering, almost throwing me off the balance.

"You came out here to stop me?" I shouted.

Mr D. chuckled. "No, no, I came here to see you off."

He didn't continue. The rain torrent down on our heads and we stood there a few moments, staring at each other.

"That's all you're going to say?" I yelled. "Not gonna impart some wise words? Threaten me? Drag me back to my cabin?"

"I'll do nothing of that sort."

"Did you do this to the others? See them off before they disappear? Did you know, all this time, who's been doing this?"

"Oh no, I never saw them off. I truly don't know if they were taken or they left on their own. But I do know who you are going against, boy. Tread carefully."

He didn't look like he was going to share anything else. So I went ahead and blew a whistle with my fingers, hoping my ride could hear me. I knew someone who could take me to where I needed to go.

And there she was, Rainbow the Hippocampus coming out of the current and speeding towards the shore. I patted the horse in greeting. "It's going to be a long trip, Rainbow. But can you help me?"

The Hippocampus whinnied in determination. I took one last look of Camp Half-Blood. Mr. D's hands were in his pockets. "Watch out for my boy, Percy Jackson." I managed to hear even over the storm.

I nodded and mounted the creature. "Liberty Island, Rainbow," I said to her. "Let's go!"

* * *

I had seen the statue in countless pictures and postcards and out there in a distance. This was the first time I came up close to it. When we got to the island, I said my thanks and goodbyes with Rainbow, then stared at the green lady. This was the gift from the French people to the Americans around the 1880s, and the first thing immigrants see when they enter New York. I wondered how they carried that big of a woman and put it in this place. An image of a gigantic statue shoved into the back door of a large ship came to my mind. I'd laugh if I actually see someone _try_ that kind of stunt in real life.

I brought my attention from the Statue of Liberty to the island she was standing on. Time had slowed down here. Understatement of the year, actually. Raindrops had seized mid-air, falling really, _really_ slow. I passed my fingers through them and briefly watched it spread into tinier drops. There was no problem with me, though. My time was ticking normally.

I went on ahead, knowing who and what to expect, which just made me more nervous. The concrete floor was slippery, so I trekked through the grass, ignoring the _keep of the grass signs_ posted almost everywhere. A bronze plaque titled, "The New Colossus," greeted me at the foot of the statue. A sonnet was written below that. I had one minute to appreciate poetry before venturing inside.

My destination this time was getting to the top. I climbed the spiral staircase that led to the crown of the statue, drying myself up in the process, using my powers to shake off the rain from my hair and my clothes. A thought occupied my mind all this time as I explored the interior; I wished Annabeth was here to see this. In different circumstances, maybe, I'd appreciate this trip. I'd really like to take her here one day. Maybe after the war, if we would still be alive by then.

At the top, instead of the crown's sea view overlooking New York, was a rusted door. The hinges were dimly lit, for dramatic effect. Here I was, the point of no return. All my friends might be here. But there was a good chance they wouldn't be, and this was a trap from the start, and I'm just a stupid, stupid person. I could just go back to my warm bed and wait it all out, just as Chiron suggested. Let this all blow over. But that would be running away. And I was tired of running, of being a coward. I wanted to prove the gods that I was more than anything they had ever seen.

I opened the door and stepped inside without hesitation. I wouldn't let this be the end of the story. Not yet.

* * *

I slipped through a different dimension. The energy around me felt unfamiliar. I was still in Lady Liberty's territory, I was sure of that, but I knew the room was cut off from the real world. My heart skipped a beat when I figured out where I was; back in my dreams, with the black and white tiles under my shoes, the darkness all around me. The only exception was that I saw no humongous chess pieces chasing me.

"Welcome to the battlefield, Perseus Jackson," a familiar voice boomed. "You are brave and foolish to come this far out. I was afraid that you would take your beloved mentor's advice to wait. "

Out of the shadows came Luke's scarred face. No, this wasn't Luke, something was different about him. Looking at his golden eyes, this was Kronos, the lord of time, speaking to me . He said, "Do you know why I lured you to this obvious trap?"

"Not really, no," I said. I came here to save my friends. What other reason should I be doing out here?

"I want what you have, and I want to take it from you personally," Kronos started. "Hand me the Hundred-Hand Key."

My tongue was tied. "A...a key? What?" I didn't bring a key with me. Unless he was talking about the safe key that hid my secret stack of smuggled chocolate. I didn't bring that either.

The lord of time exclaimed, "The Hundred-Hand Key, you fool! You have it!"

The Hundred-Hand Key. Never heard of this magical item, nor was it mentioned in the books. "Do you think I'm _that_ stupid to come all the way here to give you a key that I don't even know about? And even if I do have it, why should I just give it to you? Aren't you the type to force it from me, not ask me politely?"

Kronos burst into a fit of rage and summoned his scythe. I quickly took out Riptide and uncapped it, ready to spring into action. Kronos raised his weapon upwards, about the slice me in half. I prepared myself for the clash.

When he brought down his blade to my head, a golden barrier appeared around me and deflected the attack. The force was so powerful, it threw the titan across the other side of the room, far away from me. I stood there, my brain trying to process what just happened. I looked down to myself. My hands weren't glowing or anything like that. I didn't feel like I used my strength to do that.

"Curse the gatekeeper!" Kronos cried out. "Of all the choices, he picked _this_ cowardly son of Poseidon."

"Look man, I'm here for my friends and that's it," I said, keeping my cool. I had no idea what this guy was talking about. To be honest, I didn't really care what was his beef with me, a gatekeeper, and a key which I still had no clue about. "I'm taking them back with me. So can I have them back?"

"You'll have to fight for them, child," Kronos scowled. He waved his hand to his left. The shadows were pushed away, revealing what it was hiding all this time; a hooded figure sitting on a chair. Another chair, unoccupied, faced the figure from across the table.

"Let me make a bargain with you," Kronos said. "We will play a certain game, you and me."

I knew where this was going. I knew that from the start. I looked back to the table, to the other person sitting in isolation. "That's unfair. If we're supposed to play together, how come he's the one taking your place?"

"Life is unfair, child. They will play for me, and I have my reasons for doing that. If you really want to save your friends, then you'll have to abide with the rules I set. Now, _sit down_."

I moved towards the table. Up close, I took in the details of my opponent. He wore a brown old traveling coat, and it shadowed his face, his form. He reminded me of the Grim Reaper in cartoons. He wasn't moving—didn't even shift on their seat—ever since I noticed he was there all this time. He didn't glance at me when I got to the table, but he raised their hand. The shadows lifted a little from his face, but I still couldn't see their complete appearance. His neck was chained. Was he captured and forced here? I think that was already a giveaway.

He placed the hand on the table. Something started to rise from the surface of the furniture. A chessboard without its pieces. Here we go.

I sat down on the empty chair and faced my opponent. Kronos walked besides his buddy. "If you win, you can have those puny half-bloods back and run to your little camp of yours, sing your happy-clappy songs... _if_ you can save them all." He grinned disturbingly. "But if _I_ win... you will hand me the Key."

I put my hand on the table like what the other guy did. Chains magically appeared around our wrists, locking our arms into place, and it burst into flames. I didn't feel the heat.

"Could you at least cue as in about your house rules?" Being in talking terms with the Titan who wanted me dead or turned into a slave was weird. I should be running for my life, I should be terrified to just be right across him. But if he was going to pull a stunt like before, he'd probably be tossed back again by the magic that protected me from getting harmed. And maybe he knew that.

Kronos chuckled and placed his hands on the backrest of my opponent's chair. "The game's mechanics are just the same, with a few differences that you'll find out soon enough. Since you're a little late, you will be black. White goes first. You can take as much as you want playing the game, play gracefully if it'll make it more enjoyable for you. But I expect that both of you will fight like you've never fought before." He inhaled deeply and sighed. "Now, let the game begin."

A black hole appeared below us. My soul fell into it.


End file.
